A U.S. helicopter was shot down near Baghdad on Monday but its two pilots escaped with only minor injuries, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. "An AH-64 Apache helicopter rescued (the) pilots after enemy fire brought down their OH-58D Kiowa Attack helicopter south of Baghdad," the military said in a statement, cited by Reuters.

It said a U.S. warplane destroyed the damaged helicopter with two large laser-guided bombs after the pilots were evacuated.

Meanwhile, two Marines died in a "non-hostile related" accident in Iraq's western Anbar province, the military said. The two died on Sunday in the accident, which took place while they were conducting operations in Anbar, the military statement said, according to the AP.

In another development, the U.S. military said on Tuesday that at least 23 "insurgents" were killed during fighting on Saturday and Sunday near the city of Ramadi in Iraq. The military said in a statement that American and Iraqi ftroops, backed by war planes and helicopters, confronted the armed men as they were preparing to launch a series of suicide bomb attacks.